PRAY THAT THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST WILL COME TO FULL MATURITY AS THE HOUSEHOLD/FAMILY OF GOD AT ALL LEVELS: FROM INDIVIDUAL TO THE GLOBAL LEVEL
PRAY INTO THE FOCUS OF EACH DAY AS IT RELATES TO THE THEME OF THE WEEK
| DAY | FOCUS |
|
Sunday |
Thanksgiving |
|
Monday |
Personal/Family Life |
|
Tuesday |
Local Church |
|
Wednesday |
Church in the Community |
|
Thursday |
Church in the Workplace |
|
Friday |
Church in Uganda |
|
Saturday |
Church Worldwide |
1. IDENTITY AND SELF WORTH IN THE HOUSEHOLD OF GOD
JOHN 14:15-18
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”
• Pray that the members of the household of God at all levels from – the individual to the global level – will learn to properly relate with the Holy Spirit our Helper.
• Pray that the orphan spirit will lift off members of the family of God as we receive the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
EPHESIANS 1:3-6
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
ROMANS 8:14-17
For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
• Pray that members of God’s household will learn how to be led by the Spirit of God.
• Pray that there will be a deep yearning, among members of the household of God, for growth beyond childhood to maturity as sons and fathers.
• Pray for a fresh revelation to members of Christ’s household of our place as sons of God and as joint heirs with Christ our elder brother.
• Pray that members of the household of God will embrace the suffering that comes with living a righteous life.
GALATIANS 4:4-7
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.
• Pray that those in the household of God that are bound by the slavery/servant mentality will be released to the freedom that belongs to sons of God.
2. UNITY IN THE HOUSEHOLD OF GOD
GALATIANS 3:26-29
…for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.
• Ask God’s forgiveness for the divisions we have propagated based on denominations, religious traditions, tribe, race, social class, sex, and generations.
• Pray for a new understanding or what it means to be baptized into Christ
PSALM 133:1-3
Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity! It is like the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes! It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion! For there the Lord has commanded the blessing, life forevermore.
EPHESIANS 2:19-22
So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
• Ask God to forgive us for mindsets and attitudes that deny the truth that we are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.
• Pray for an increasing understanding from personal to the global level of what it means for us to be fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.
• Pray that we will be properly related in the household of God.
• Pray that each member of this household will find their place as individuals, families, local congregations, nationally and globally.
3. LOVE IN THE HOUSEHOLD OF GOD
1 JOHN 4:7
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.
JOHN 13:34,35
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
GALATIANS 6:10
So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.
1 JOHN 3:15-18
Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.
• Pray for an increasing manifestation of the God-kind of love in the household of God from individual to the global level.
4. RELATIONSHIPS IN THE HOUSEHOLD OF GOD
EPHESIANS 3:14,15
For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named…
• Thank God for the fact that every family we are part of derives its name from the Father, the Creator of heaven and earth.
• Pray that there will be an increasing kindred family spirit among members of God’s household from the individual to the global level.
• Pray that the Lord will raise many fathers and mothers in His Household.
HEBREWS 3:1-6
Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God’s house. For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.) Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.
• Pray that like Moses and Jesus we will be found faithful in our different callings in the household of God.
• Pray that we will not falter in holding fast our confidence and boasting in our hope.
MATTHEW 12:49-50
And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers!
For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”
• One of the reasons there is a low level no kindred spirit in the Church of Jesus Christ is that many members are not doing the will of the Father in heaven. Pray that the members of God’s household will increasingly desire to do, and submit to the will of the Father in heaven.
1 TIMOTHY 5:1-2
Do not rebuke an older man but encourage him as you would a father, younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, in all purity.
5. THE ATMOSPHERE IN THE HOUSEHOLD OF GOD
COLOSSIANS 3:16
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
• Pray that the household of God will be filled with members in whom the word of Christ dwells richly.
• Pray that the household of God at all levels will be places of teaching and correction in wisdom.
• Pray that the household of God at all levels will express the joy of the Lord in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.
• Pray the dominant spirit in the household of God from the individual to the global level will be one of thankfulness and not grumbling and complaining.
6. THE HOUSEHOLD OF GOD AS A PILLAR AND BUTTRESS OF THE TRUTH
1 TIMOTHY 3:15
I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that, if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.
• Ask God’s forgiveness for the various ways we have misbehaved in God’s house at individual, family, local church, national and global levels.
• Pray that we know how to behave in God’s household at all these levels
• Pray that the Church will come to fully understand its mandate as a “pillar and buttress of the truth” in all of God’s creation.
• Pray that there will be honor and purity in relationships in the household of God at all levels.
• Pray that there will be a clear understanding of the structure of the household of God.
7. DESTINY OF THE MEMBERS OF THE HOUSEHOLD OF GOD
1 JOHN 3:1,2
See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.
HEBREWS 2:10-18
For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying, “I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.” And again, “I will put my trust in him.” And again, “Behold, I and the children God has given me.”
Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.
• Praise the Lord that Jesus is not ashamed to call us his brothers.
• Pray for release from the bondage for members of God’s household, that comes from the fear of death.
ROMANS 8:29
For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
PRAY THAT THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST WILL COME TO FULL MATURITY AS THE
HOUSEHOLD/FAMILY OF GOD AT ALL LEVELS: FROM INDIVIDUAL TO THE GLOBAL
LEVEL
You can download the PDF Version of the Prayer Guide here: Week 1 Church as Household of God Prayer Guide